Foo Fighters

Ok ok, I know it's an offshoot of Nirvana. But Foo Dogs, or even Temple Lions would also cover the subject, but not as catchily.
I bought a pair of Foo dogs off eBay, in two different attitudes, I had wanted to paint them since I saw Jane Lund's lovely rendering of the subject.

Image © Jane Lund

The set-up was simple - a pair of ceramic dogs on black glass, black velvet backdrop, and a carved Chinese plinth to vary the levels of the two. I photographed the set-up and converted the image in PaintshopPro to 16 colours - effectively posterizing the image. I used that image for the base drawing and  blocking in. The difference in ground colour is due to the change in ambient light between photo sessions.

At this stage I am using hard pastels only - pencils and a few Rembrandts.

Here we are looking at the finishing of the left hand figure, and the blocking in of the plinth. I am still using Rembrandts for the finer details, but Schminke and Sennelier are participating in the colour fields on the statues.

At this stage the figures are nearing completion, and I want to check out the contrast between the lights, the planned dark background, and the edges of the figures against the background.

The background is filled in; the plinth completed with pencils, Rembrandt, and Caran d'Ache; and the foreground filled in too. The background is a mixture of  Sennelier's darkest blue (463) and darkest green (177). The foreground has black and green in it.

Foo Fighters © Niall O'Neill

Final image has reflections added and highlights refined. It will be put aside, and maybe adjusted before being framed and displayed.